'Coupling is a tricky thing' - John Mayer confirms Katy Perry split

He's been notoriously loose-lipped in the past, but it looks like John Mayer is done with going off the TMI deep end over his failed relationships.

During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, airing in the US this week, the crooner, 35, confirmed his breakup with Katy Perry, 28, but kept mum on the specifics of their split.

Recalling meeting the pair at the Grammy awards earlier this year, when they were seated close to DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, the host said: "I know Katy she is a good friend as well and I know that since then you're not together any more."

"Correct," replied Mayer.

"It was a very private relationship going in," Mayer added, who in the past has revealed very personal details about his famous exes, including Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson.

The singer-songwriter infamously referred to Simpson as "sexual napalm" in a 2010 interview with Playboy magazine.

"Yeah, that girl is like crack cocaine to me. Sexually it was crazy," he told the mag. "That's all I'll say. It was like napalm, sexual napalm."

But when it comes to his romance with Perry, Mayer remained fairly schtum.

"It was a private relationship during, and it's a private relationship still," he said about the Part of Me singer.

He added, "I can understand asking the question based on some previous answers I have given, but I have finally learned how to put the wall between one thing and the other. I've been much happier since then.

"I'm on the same journey as everyone else. Coupling is a tricky thing. It's a tricky thing."

Added DeGeneres: "It is hard and you're both in the business and you're both working all the time. I just want you to be happy. That's all."

"I want everyone to be happy," replied Mayer. "And you're happy."

"I'm happy," chirped DeGeneres.

Mayer and Perry first stepped out as a couple in early August. Just a few weeks later, the romance was rumoured to have hit the skids. But they patched things up, only to split again last month.

"It's sad," a friend of the couple told Us Weekly, while noting that the split might not be a permanent thing. "It's not over until it's over. You have to see how things play out."

Chimed another source: "She's leaving the window open. They have both been so focused on work."

During his confab with DeGeneres, Mayer, who is prepping for his first tour in three years, also spoke about his recent throat injury that resulted in two surgeries on his vocal cords.

"Half of it [was acid reflux], half of it is overuse and singing and singing and singing. The other stuff is you know, what you put into your body. And, I'm getting to that age now your body doesn't just shake everything off, and it didn't help that I really loved, loved, loved scotch. It's just like applying poison to your body," he noted.

"It's like applying a shellac of poison. It's just delicious, wonderful poison. That makes you not care how late you're out till or where you're going.

"I had to really say, 'I like singing and writing more than I like delicious scotch.' So I had to really dial it down. And I'm a little more boring now."

"Ultimately, it makes you probably a lot more interesting," DeGeneres added.